Morpho theseus

Theseus morpho
Subspecies justitia Godman and Salvin from Biologia Centrali-Americanum (1879–1915)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Morpho
Species:
M. theseus
Binomial name
Morpho theseus
(Deyrolle, 1860) [1]

Morpho theseus, the Theseus morpho, is a Neotropical butterfly. It is found in Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras and Guatemala.

Description

In 1913, Hans Fruhstorfer wrote: "Morpho theseus apparently replaces hercules in Central America and the Andean region. It is less constant than hercules, inclining to geographical and probably also to climatic variation, has somewhat narrower wings than hercules and is distinguished from all other Morphids by the long, pointed teeth of the hindwing."[2] Note: Morpho amphitryon, which was considered a race of Morpho theseus by Fruhstorfer, also has the "pointed teeth" or scalloping.

Ground colour brown inclining to olive green, base only quite faintly suffused with whitish. Cell black brown at the extremity and with an inconspicuous whitish spot before the apex. Forewing with only two distinct rows of yellowish patches.[2]

Subspecies

Many subspecies have been described including

  • Morpho theseus theseus Columbia
  • Morpho theseus aquarius Butler, 1872 [3] Butler, 1872 Costa Rica and Columbia.
  • Morpho theseus juturna Butler, 1870 [4] Columbia, Ecuador and northern Peru
  • Morpho theseus justitiae Salvin & Godman, 1868 [5] Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala
  • Morpho theseus oaxacensis Le Moult & Réal, 1962 [6] Mexico
  • Morpho theseus pacificus Krüger, 1925 [7] Columbia and Ecuador
  • Morpho theseus perlmani [8] Venezuela
  • Morpho theseus schweizeri (Maza, 1987) [9] Mexico.
  • Morpho theseus triangulifera Le Moult & Réal, 1962 [10] Ecuador
  • Morpho theseus yaritanus Fruhstorfer, 1913 [11] Venezuela

Etymology

Theseus was a legendary king of Athens.

  • both sides
  • underside
  • plate from Seitz Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde

References

  1. ^ Deyrolle, E. 1860 Notice sur cinq Morpho nouveaux Ann. Soc. ent. Fr. (3) 8 (1) : 207-214
  2. ^ a b Fruhstorfer, H., 1913. Family: Morphidae. In A. Seitz (editor),Macrolepidoptera of the world, vol. 5: 333–356. Stuttgart: Alfred Kernen.
  3. ^ Butler, A.G. , 1872 Descriptions of new Butterflies from Costa Rica Cistula ent. 1 : 72-90
  4. ^ Butler, A. G. 1870 Cistula ent 1870 :128
  5. ^ Salvin, O. & Godman, F. DuCane 1868 On some new species of diurnal Lepidoptera from South America Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (4) 2 (8) : 141-152
  6. ^ Le Moult, E. and Real, P. Les morpho d'Amérique du Sud et Centrale 2 vol. (including Supplement), 92 plates (20 colour), illustrations,Paris, Éditions du Cabinet Entomologique, 1962-1963
  7. ^ Kruger, E. 1925. Die Morphiden Kolumbiens nebst einigen allgemeinen Bemerkungen uber Morphiden. Deutsche entomologische Zeitschrift “Iris”, 38: 223-268.
  8. ^ Neild, A. F. E., 2001 A new Venezuelan subspecies of Morpho theseus Deyrolle, 1860, with notes on the nomenclature, systematics, and type specimens of the species. Lambillionea. Volume 101, Issue 3, pages 431–45
  9. ^ Maza Elvira, Roberto de la and Maza Elvira, Javier de la, 2023 Los Morpho Fabricius, 1807 in the sugenus Iphimedeia Fruhstorfer, 1912 in mexico (Nymphalidae-Satyrinae -Morohinae) Sociedad Mexicana de Lepidoerología, Publicaciones Especiales, No. 6, 2023
  10. ^ Le Moult, E. and Real, P. op.cit.
  11. ^ Frustorfer, H. 1913 op cit.
  • Le Moult (E.) & Réal (P.), 1962–1963. Les Morpho d'Amérique du Sud et Centrale, Editions du cabinet entomologique E. Le Moult, Paris.


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